Quebec throws cold water on Bitcoin miners seeking cheap power

Montreal

Quebec’s potential as a Bitcoin-mining nirvana is starting to fizzle.

Earlier this week, Hydro-Quebec warned that there won’t be cheap power available for every company that wants to set shop in the province and suggested it may set a higher tariff for cryptocurrency miners. On Friday, the government — the utility’s owner — questioned the companies’ contribution to the province’s economy.

“If you want to come settle here, plug in your servers and do Bitcoin mining, we’re not really interested,” Premier Philippe Couillard said at a conference in Montreal Friday. “There needs to be added value for our society; just having servers to do transaction mining and acquire new bitcoins, I don’t see the added value.”

Couillard said he’s more open to companies that would help create “a real ecosystem or a real technological transformation centred on blockchain,” even if they use cryptocurrencies to finance their project.